olmstead



Wm Il INVENTOR:

ATTORNEYS.'

- (No Model.) .I y' asheets-sheet s.` E. A. OLMSTBAD.

` GARGOUPLING. y No. 377,532'. f Patented Feb.,7, 1888'.

WITNESSBS: INVBNTORQ ATTORNEYS.

To all whom it may concern:

NITFD STATES TATFNT' OFFICE..

cAR-coUPLllNe.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 377,532, dated February7, 1888. Application filed October 12, 1887. Serial No. 252,129. (Nomodel.)k

Be it known that I, EDWARD A. OLMsTEAD, of Buffalo, in the county ofErie` and State of New York, have invented a new and ImprovedCar-Coupler, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

This invention relates to carcoup'lers,'the main objects of theinvention being to relieve the car-body timbers of all" bufng or pullingstrain, and at .the same time to Vso mount the draw-bar that no actualstrain will fall upon the king pin or bolt; and to these ends theinvention consists ofa body center plate thatis recessed to receive thelower plate of the drawbar cage and provided with an annular flangewhich extends upward through an aperture or opening formed at the innerend of the said lower plate .of the draw-bar cage, the body center platebeing further. formed to receive eyes that are formed upon tie-rodswhich eX- tend toward the center of the car and are connected to theneedle-beams, the needle-beams in turn being connected by tie-rods.

The invention also consists ofthe construction ofthe device foruncoupling the draw-bars, all as will be hereinafter more fullydescribed, and specifically pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar figures of reference indicatecorresponding parts inall the views.

Figure l isa plan view of a portion of they frame of a car body,representing the same as it appears when provided with my improvedcoupler. Fig. 2 is a side view of the construction illustrated inFig. 1. Fig; 3 is a plan view showing both ends of the car-body. Fig. 4is a crosssectional view upon an enlarged scale, the View being takenupon line x x of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the body center plate,and Fig. 6 is an end view of a portion of acar-body provided with myimproved form of coupling.

In the drawings above referred to, 10 represents the draw-bar, of whichthe head 11 is vertically elongated and formed with atseries of pockets,l2, adapted to receive the link of an ordinary pin-and-link coupling,the coupling-pin at such times being passed through 5o'an aperture, 13,that is formed in the drawhead. The draw-head 11 is provided with ahook, 14, and normally held in the position inY which it isshown in Fig.1 by the action of a spiral spring, 15, which is coiled about a plunger,16, that bears against the outer face of the drawbar.

The drawbar pocket 17 is held within a cage made upof a lower plate, 13,and an upper plate, 19, follower-plates 20 and 20* being placed asclearly shown in the drawings, and between these follower-plates Iarrange drawbar springs 21. The rear ends of the plates 18 and 19 areapertured, the aperturev in the plate 18 being of sufficient size to iitover an annular liange, 22, that is formed about the central aperture ofthe body 'center plate 30, an annular recess, 23, beingformedfabout'said iiange 2,2, in which recess the rounded end of theplate l18 rests. The upper plate, 19, is simply apertured toY providefor the passage of the king pin or bolt 24. Y

The under face of the body center plate 30 is of the usual form andrests upon the truck center plate 25, as is best shown in Fig. 4, saidbody center plate 30 being, as usual, mounted directly beneaththe bottomcord of vthe body-transom, while the -upper plate, 19,

rests directly beneath the top cord of the bodytransom.

At either side of formed annular recesses 26, from which there therecess 23 there'arev extend straight recesses 27, studs 28 extendn ingupward'from the main body of the center plate at the centers of therecesses 26, the arrangement being such that the eyes 31-and a portionof the bodies of tie-bars 32 will rest within the recesses 26 and 27,the studs 28 passing up ward through the eyes 31, as is bestshown inFig, 4. through the approaching needlebeam 33 to engage with nuts, asindicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, the needle-beams of the car-bodybeing in turn connected .by tie-rods or center draw-bars, 34, that arearranged as best shown in Figs. 1 and 3. An inspection of Fig. 3 willshow that thenlount-ing ofthe two draw-bars arranged in connection withthe car is similar.

The tie-bars 32 extend to and.

The center plate 30 is provided or formed Y with two pairs of flanges,35, each pair being connected by a web, 36, the construction being suchthat pockets are formed for thereception of the center sills, 37.

roo

As before stated, the drawbar is normally held in the position in whichit is shown in the drawings by a spring, 15; but in order that thedraw-bar may be drawn back when it is desired to uncouple the cars, Iconnect an equalizing-lever, 40, to the outer side of the draw-bar bymeans of a link-connection, as 41, the lever being pivotally connectedto the bracket in which the spring 15 is housed. The end of this lever4() carries a stud, 42, which rides in a slot formed in the head 43 ofan operating-lever, 44, said lever being fulcrumed at a and extendingoutward beyond one of the sills of the car, there to engage with a rack,45, with which it is held in engagement by a spring-arm, 46, that bearsagainst a horizontal curved bar, 47, the lever being normally held inengagement with the last tooth, 48, of the rack'45 by the action of aspring, 49, which is connected to one arm of the head of the lever andarranged as best shown inFig. 1.

Above the lever, and rigidly connected thereto, there is mounted a nose,50, which, when the lever is thrown in the direction of the arrow shownin Fig. 1, will bear against a plunger, 51, that is housed in anaperture formed in the draw-bar and bears against a dat spring, 52, theinner end of which is connected to the draw-bar, this spring 52 beingemployed to assist in holding the draw-hooks 14 in engagement when thecars are coupled, as will be hereinafter explained.

When it is desired to couple cars provided with my improved form ofcoupler, the parts are adjusted as represented in the drawings. Then asthe cars come together the inclined faces b of the draw-hooks 14 willmeet, and the draw-bars will be moved outward against the tension oftheir springs 15 until the point of the hook of one draw-bar has passedin beyond the point of the hook of the other draw-bar, immediately afterwhich the springs 15 will act to force their draw-bars forward, so thatthe hooks 14 will be brought into engagement, the springs 52 bearing atthis time against the outer sides of the draw-heads and tending to holdthe two hooks in engagement.

When it is desired to uncouple the cars, the lever 44 is thrown in thedirection of the arrow shown in connection therewith in Fig. 1, andbrought into engagement with such of the teeth of the rack 45 asisproper to hold .the draw-bar in the required position, the

movement of the lever 44 tending to throw the lever 40 in the directionof its arrow, thus drawing the drawhead in the direction of the arrowshown in connection therewith; but as the lever 44 is thrown aslastabove described, the nose 50 will act to force the plunger 51 forward,so that the spring 52 will be held in about the position in which it isshown in the drawings, the nose 50 being properly shaped to bring aboutthis result.

By broadening the draw-head vertically I provide for the coupling ofcars of unequal height when both of such cars are provided with myimproved form of coupler; and by forming a number of recesses in thesaid drawhead I arrange for coupling with the ordinary form ofpin-and-link coupling wit-h cars of different height; and by connectingthe draw-bars to thel body center plates, and in turn connecting saidcenter plates by tie bars or rods, I relieve the frame proper of thecarbody of all strain incident to the drawing or the backing of thecars.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent-- 1. A body center plate formed with a centralrecess defined by a central flange, 22, said flange being adapted toenter an eye formed at the inner end of one of the draw-bar cage plates.

2. A body center plate formed with a recess, 23, a flange', 22, studs28, annular recesses 26, and other recesses, 27, substantially asdescribed.

8. Abody center plate provided with flanges that are connected by websand formed with recesses adapted to receive tie-bars, and studs adaptedto enter eyes formed in said tie-bars, and a central recess defined by acentral llan ge, substantially as described.

4. Ihe combination, with a draw-bar providedf at its inner end withcage-plates, of a body center plate provided with a central ange, saidflange being adapted to enter an eye formed at the inner end ot' one ofthe drawbar cage-plates, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with the body center plate formed with recesses 26and 27 and studs 28, of the tie-bars 32, provided at their ends ICO witheyes, said eyes being adapted to receive the studs 28, substantially asdescribed.

6. The combination, with a draw-bar, of a forwardly extending spring,52, connected thereto, a lever, 40, connected to the draw-bar by a linkor links, 41, a lever, 44, to which the lever 40 is connected, a nosecarried by the lever 44, and a plunger, 51, arranged in connection 4withthe nose and with the spring 52, substantially as described.

7. The combination, with adraw-bar formed with a hooked end, of aplunger, 16, a spring by which the plunger is held against the drawbar,a lever, 40, connected to the draw-bar by a link or links, a lever, 44,to the head ot' which the lever 4() is connected by a stud, a spring,49, connected to the head of the lever 44, a nose, 50, carried by thelever 44, a plunger, 51, that is borne upon by the nose, a spring, 52,that is borne upon by the plunger, a rack, 45, a bar, 47, arranged abovethe rack, and a spring-arm, 46, carried by the lever 44, substantiallyas described.

EDWARD A. OLMSTEAD.

Vitnesses:

EDWARD KENT, J r., EDGAR TATE.

